Book of the Camp Fire Girls Luther Gulick 1914 Boy Scout Girl Scouts Rare

Description

The Book of the Camp Fire Girls
National Headquarters, 1914 - 82 pages
Camp Fire, formerly Camp Fire USA and originally Camp Fire Girls of America, is a co-ed youth development organization. Camp Fire was the first nonsectarian, multicultural organization for girls in America. Its programs emphasize camping and other outdoor activities for youth. It is seen as being gender inclusive.
Its informal roots extend back to 1910, with efforts by Mrs. Charles Farnsworth in Thetford, Vermont and Luther Gulick M.D. and his wife Charlotte Vedder Gulick on Sebago Lake, near South Casco, Maine. Camp Fire Girls, as it was known at the time, was created as the sister organization to the Boy Scouts of America. The organization changed its name in 1975 to Camp Fire Boys and Girls when membership eligibility was expanded to include boys. In 2001, the name Camp Fire USA was adopted,[7] and in 2012 it became Camp Fire.
Camp Fire's programs include small group experiences, after-school programs, camping and environmental education, child care and service learning, build confidence in younger children and provide hands-on, youth driven leadership experiences for older youth.
In 1910, young girls in Thetford, Vermont, watched their brothers, friends, and schoolmates – all Boy Scouts – practice their parts in the community's 150th anniversary, which would be celebrated the following summer. The pageant's organizer, William Chauncey Langdon, promised the girls that they, too, would have an organized role in the pageant, although no organization such as Boy Scouts existed then for girls. Langdon consulted with Mrs. Charles Farnsworth, preceptress of Horace Mann School near Thetford, Vermont. Both approached Luther Halsey Gulick M.D.[8] about creating a national organization for girls. Gulick introduced the idea to friends, among them G. Stanley Hall, Ernest Thompson Seton, and James West, executive secretary of the Boy Scouts.[9] After many discussions and help from Gulick and his wife Charlotte, Langdon named the group of Thetford girls the Camp Fire Girls.[10]
In 1907, the Gulicks had established Camp WoHeLo, a camp for girls, on Lake Sebago, near South Casco, Maine. There were seventeen WoHeLo maidens at the camp in the summer of 1910.[4] Both the Vermont group and the Maine group would lead to the creation of the organization formally organized as Camp Fire Girls in 1912.
On March 22, 1911 Dr. Gulick organized a meeting "To consider ways and means of doing for the girls what the Boy Scout movement is designed to do for the boys". On April 10, 1911 James E. West issued a press release from Boy Scouts of America headquarters announcing that with the success of the Boy Scout movement a group of preeminent New York men and women were organizing a group to provide outdoor activities for girls, similar to those in the Boy Scout movement.
In 1911, the Camp Fire Girls planned to merge with the Girls Scouts of America formed by Clara A. Lisetor-Lane of Des Moines, Iowa and Girl Guides of America (of Spokane, Washington) to form the Girl Pioneers of America, but relationships fractured and the merger failed.[11][12] Grace Seton quit the group over the rejection of her committee's draft of a handbook, followed by Linda Beard in September 1911 over difference with the Gulicks.[12] However, there was an organization meeting held by Lina Beard on February 7, 1912 in Flushing, New York of a Girl Pioneers of America organization.[13]
Camp Fire Girls of America was incorporated in Washington, D.C, as a national agency on March 17, 1912.[14]
In late 1912, Juliette Gordon Low proposed that the Camp Fire Girls merge with her group, Girl Guides of America, but was rejected in January 1913 as the Camp Fire Girls were then the larger group.[15] By December 1913, Camp Fire Girls' membership was an estimated 60,000, many of whom began attending affiliated summer camps.[9] The Bluebird program was introduced that year for younger girls, offering exploration of ideas and creative play built around family and community.[16] In 1989 the Bluebirds became Starflight.
Flushing, New York, 1917
The first official Camp Fire handbook was published in 1914.[17] During World War I Camp Fire Girls helped to sell over one million dollars in Liberty Bonds and over 0,000 in Thrift Stamps; 55,000 girls helped to support French and Belgian orphans, and an estimated 68,000 girls earned honors by conservation of food.[18]
The first local Camp Fire council was formed in 1918 in Kansas City, Mo. Later in 1977 Kansas City would become the national headquarters for Camp Fire.
Camp Fire Stamp
Smokey Bear with members of the Boy Scouts of America and the Camp Fire Girls celebrating the 50th anniversary of their founding.
Camp Fire celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1960 with the "She Cares ... Do You?" program. During the project, Camp Fire planted more than two million trees, built 13,000 bird houses, and completed several other conservation-oriented tasks. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Camp Fire Girls, in connection with their Golden Jubilee Convention celebration, a stamp designed by H. Edward Oliver was issued featuring the Camp Fire Girls insignia.[19] A new program, Junior Hi, wherein twelve- and thirteen-year-old girls explore new interests as a group and as individuals was created in 1962. This program name changed later to Discovery.[20] That same year, the WoHeLo medallion became Camp Fire's highest achievement and honor.
In 1969, Camp Fire Girls were allowed to be "Participants" in BSA's Explorer Posts (for boys 14 and older). This arrangement ended in 1971, when the BSA made Explorers a co-ed program. Membership was at 274,000 by 1974 in 1,300 communities of the United States.[21] Camp Fire expanded its horizons in 1975, welcoming boys to participate in all Camp Fire activities.[22] While boys were invited to Camp Fire Girls Horizon Conferences in the late 1960s and early 1970s, official membership was not offered them until 1975, when the organization became coeducational. Camp Fire decided boys and girls should be together in one organization, so they learn to play and work alongside each other and appreciate their similarities and differences in positive ways
Alsea Anacaona annual dues appointment attainment awarded become a Wood Blue Birds Burn Camp Craft Camp Fire Girls Camp Fire Outfitting candidate candles ceremonial dress ceremonial gown ceremonial meeting ceremonial name charter color cooking Count dances decoration dollars earn Elective Honors emblems Ernest Thompson Seton fagots fifteen fifty cents Fire Maker Fire Song five give given Grand Council Fire Guardian says Guardian's Pin Hand Craft headbands Home Craft honor beads honors won Identify and describe Indian legends least Lighting Ceremony Maker or Torch Manual Margaret Bradshaw membership Moon name and symbol NANIH WAIYA National Board National Honors Nature Lore organization shall endeavor out-of-door rank of Fire Record Book requirements right hand ring Sidney Lanier sing song Symbolic Art tell things three months Torch Bearer tramping Walking Song Wawa weekly meetings Wohelo means Wood Gatherer